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Abstract

Recent experiments have shown that the simple addition of a length of Raman-shifting fibre in the cavity of a cw-pumped fibre laser can cause the laser to generate a stable train of pulses [Zhao and Jackson, Opt. Lett., 31 751 (2006)]. We show using a numerical model that this behavior is a new type of mode locking, driven by backward stimulated Raman scattering. This mode locking mechanism could also be applied to crystalline Raman laser systems to create a novel picosecond oscillator.

Movies showing the development of the fundamental and Stokes intracavity fields during three round trips, for a pump power of 5.5 W. Movie (a) shows an animation of the total cavity field at each wavelength vs. position (3.4 MB) [Media 1]. Movie (b) shows the cavity fields (unwrapped so the left-traveling cavity field is plotted on the right of the right-traveling field) viewed in a moving frame that travels around the cavity at the group velocity (2.5 MB). [Media 2]